LARAMIE, Wyo. (Reuters) - A jury Wednesday found a Wyoming man guilty of murder and kidnapping in the slaying of a gay college student in 1998 that shocked the nation and renewed calls for anti-hate crime laws.

The prosecution said Aaron McKinney, 22, was like a ``wolf'' preying on his smaller victim, 21-year-old Matthew Shepard. McKinney was convicted of felony murder, meaning he could face the death penalty.

McKinney took a deep breath after the verdicts were read, but showed little emotion.

His family sighed when at first the jury's verdict of not guilty of first degree murder was read aloud in the courtroom, but grew silent when the guilty verdict for felony murder was announced.

McKinney was also found guilty of aggravated robbery. The term felony murder is used to refer to a killing committed during a felony and carries the death penalty.

The jury of seven men and five women deliberated about nine hours. The trial moved into a second phase to determine McKinney's punishment.

Police officers testified McKinney and his friend Russell Henderson lured Shepard from a Laramie bar, pistol whipped him and left him tied to a fence outside of town to die. Shepard was found some 18 hours later and died in a hospital on Oct. 12, 1998.

The defense team's strategy was cut short Monday when state court Judge Barton Voight barred McKinney's lawyers from using the controversial ``gay panic'' defense. The defense had called a total of seven witnesses before resting its case Monday afternoon.

The prosecution portrayed McKinney, a high school dropout, as a ``cold-blooded savage'' who with a friend preyed on Shepard like a wolf.

The brutal nature of the beating stunned the nation, prompting calls for anti-hate crime legislation.

The defense admitted McKinney's role in the Oct. 6, 1998, attack on Shepard, a University of Wyoming student. But the defense argued McKinney was under the influence of drugs and liquor which, coupled with a history of child abuse and a homosexual experience at the age of 15, propelled him into a blind rage when Shepard allegedly made a pass at him.

The defense's strategy, after the gay panic defense was disallowed, was to try to convince the jury McKinney did not intend for Shepard to die and that their client was a hapless loser called ``dopey'' by his friends who was drug crazed.

Henderson pleaded guilty earlier this year to murder and kidnapping and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences in prison.